1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loaf slicing machine of the kind in which a loaf of ham, bacon and the like is advanced at a constant rate to a cutting blade which cuts the loaf into slices of desired thickness
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical slicing machine of the above kind includes a pair of spaced rotary belts between which a loaf of about 1 to 2 meters long is advanced intermittently into an orifice formed in a guide member. A distance of the rotary belts is usually adjustable so that loaves having different sizes may be fed. A cutting blade is disposed at a position slightly forward of an exit of the orifice to cyclically slice the end of the loaf, a thickness of the slices being determined by an advanced distance of the loaf in each cycle. The guide member is intended to prevent a displacement of the end portion of the loaf due to a force which is exerted by the blade when it cuts the loaf, and the orifice is typically formed to have a size substantially equal to the size of the loaf. The slices are transferred onto a conveyor which fowards the slices to a packaging machine. A stacker may be arranged between the blade and the conveyor for accumulating the slices as cut to form stacks thereof and for supplying the stacks to the conveyor.
One example of the above slicing machine is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open document No. 59-193695. A cutting blade disclosed therein is adapted to rotate about its center axis which is rotatably secured to a support body. The suport body itself revolves around an orbital axis positioned away from the center axis of the blade toward the periphery thereof. The combination of the two rotational movements is such that the blade edge cuts the loaf into a slice during one rotaion of the support body around the orbital axis. A pair of rotary belts advance the loaf a distance per each cycle and during the blade edge is away from the cutting place.
The loaf is held between the rotary belts which terminates just before the guide member. The loaf becomes shorter as the cutting proceeds. When the rear end of the loaf is disengaged from the rotary belts, the belts can no longer advance the loaf. It is thus necessary to supply the loaves continuously so that the forward, disengaged loaf can be advanced by the end-to-end contact with the succeeding loaf. As mentioned above, the blade which rotates at a high speed urges the loaf toward the direction of movement of the blade when cutting, and it becomes difficult to resist such a force by the guide member as the length of loaf decreases and after the rotary belts release the loaf. Thus, the blade tends to pull the loaf out of the guide member, resulting in an irregularity in thickness and/or shape of the slices. Those irregular slices are not available as a part of the products, which means that the rear end portion of the loaf is wasted. Further, the irregularly cut slices often scatter away from the blade onto various portions of the machine and regular slices on the conveyor. To remove the scattered slices is a troublesome work.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a loaf slicing machine which can cut a loaf into slices of desired thickness through an entire length of the loaf to thereby avoid a waste of a material.
Another object of the invention is to provide a loaf slicing machine which may prevent a scatter of the slices, which would otherwise reduce a production efficiency.